“Listen, her life could be in danger. Maybe if I understandthe dynamics, I can find a way around them to tell her the truth.”
“I’m public enemy number one in her mind. She was working on a story that I was against from the start. Digging into places she shouldn’t dig. I asked her nicely. I begged her to shut it down. I even misdirected her.”
“Imagine that,” he said.
“Watch your words.”
“Look. You want me to have success and keep her safe. I need to know everything.”Come on, Octavia. Giveme something.
Octavia hesitated. Sighed. Then said, “I made some calls. She lost her job at a prestigious magazine, and now nobody will look at her.”
Her words stunned Braden. He would give anything if he could hang up on her and never speak to her again too, just like her daughter.
“I’m guessing whatever she was investigating would lead back to you and cause you problems.” He probably shouldn’t have said that.
“Remember who you’re talking to.”
The expected threat let him know he’d hit a nerve. He remained silent rather than pressing her. Slow and easy won the game, and this definitely felt like a game he played with her—the person who held the power of life and death over his niece. His heart.
“I’m devastated, and my hope and prayer is one day she will come back around and understand my side.” Her voice cracked.
The way she said “one day” made it sound like that time was far into the future.
No matter the reason for the rift, Octavia loved her daughter as much as any mother could, and until he knew the whole story, he should reserve his judgment. Still ...who was Braden working for? Was he working with a criminal?
“And at some point, you’ll tell me what her investigation was all about too.” He could possibly find out on his own, unless Octavia had it scrubbed completely from all parties and the internet. She had the contacts and the pull and therefore the power to do it. That’s what made it hard for Cressida to learn about Braden’s association with DSS and her mother, if she had even tried.
But maybe it would be as simple as Cressida telling him that story. In the meantime, he hated himself for keeping such a big secret from Cressida. She didn’t deserve this.
“Is it relevant to why I’m here? Connected in any way?”
“Remember the deal you have with me.”
Not an answer. He would take that as an affirmative, otherwise she could have said no.
Was Octavia so coldhearted that she would pull her assistance? He couldn’t believe that about any person. Regardless, he was a man of honor. “Yes. I owe you, and I’ll keep up my end of our deal as long as Elise is receiving the treatment she needs.” His heart lurched at the thought of his niece and all she’d gone through. “I’m simply trying to know all the moving pieces so nothing falls through the cracks and I’m not caught off guard. If I knoweverything, then I could see connections in places that you can’t.”
“I’ll grant you that, Braden—and it’s why I selected you to help me.”
In addition to the fact that she could hold something over him, but he wasn’t in a position to argue.
“Then please, tell me something you haven’t told me yet. I know that you’re holding back.”
Several heartbeats ticked by, then, “I shut down the article because it had international implications and would only bring danger to her door. I knew she would continueto pursue it, so to save her life, I used my connections and favors and shut her down. Completely.” Her voice cracked. “I love my daughter very much, and I would do anything for her.”
“Why couldn’t you simply tell her why she shouldn’t pursue the exposé?”
“That information would only feed her story. Cressida isn’t someone who can be shut down so easily, if at all.”
“And now she’s found a way back to that story, even if she doesn’t realize it. Is that it?” He was basing that off her nonanswer earlier and throwing darts to see if he could hit a target.
She said nothing, and he thought he’d lost the connection, or ... he’d hit the target.
“From now on, I want a daily report,” she said. Another nonanswer.
Bull’s-eye.
Yeah, that’s not happening.Probably a good thing she ended the call because he wasn’t going to say anything she would like. Now he needed to find out what Cressida was working on when she was shut down before she took on her father’s book.
